Single-Malt Movies: Everything Iron Man

So, a trailer came out for Iron Man 3 this week. Who’s excited? I am. A little background: I saw Iron Man (2008) six times in theaters. In theaters. Then I pre-ordered a special-edition DVD with a metal case. I love Iron Man. He’s a troubled, charismatic genius and a self-made superhero. Those who chose to become superheroes rather than those who are born with or unnaturally acquire special powers are always more interesting in my opinion. Enough of that though. Let’s drink!

I’ll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more.

Iron Man

1 oz. Grenadine

1 oz. Drambuie

2 oz. Orange Juice

1 oz. Scotch

Orange Slice

Layer the Grenadine, Drambuie, orange juice, and Scotch in a tall, chilled glass. Layering tip: pour the ingredients in reverse order. The Grenadine is heavy enough to sink straight to the bottom through it all. Add an orange slice to the rim and enjoy!

Before we get to the Iron Man 3 trailer, let’s review Tony Stark’s appearances over the past four years. He started out in Iron Man (also in the credits), then in The Incredible Hulk’s credits, then in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. I’ll try to forget that his performance has become progressively more of a caricature of himself over the years, but there are still good things to be found in these movies and clips.Now, one of the reasons Iron Man got such great reception was because Robert Downey Jr. had resurfaced from a series of of awkward and quirky roles. His four big movies preceding Iron Man were Charlie Bartlett (awesome movie), Zodiac (kind of dull), Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (Human hair coat? Okay.), and A Scanner Darkly (paint-by-numbers RDJr). Tony Stark is a confident man and playboy, broken down after being kidnapped, driven to save himself and prevent his weapons from getting into the wrong hands. We watch Tony Stark build himself from nothing, and this happens to be a convenient metaphor for Downey Jr.’s career track: starting with Less Than Zero and ending up as Iron Man.

Marvel StudiosTell me this isn’t sexy.

For some reason, everyone I know thinks Iron Man 2 is a bad movie. Perhaps that’s true. I respectfully disagree. (See what I did there?) One might call this film self-indulgent on Robert Downey Jr.’s part. I have no idea who’s to blame for that — whether it’s the script, the actor, etc. Remember how I said that Tony Stark was a broken down playboy that rebuilt himself? Well, there’s no sign of that toil in this Tony Stark. This is where he becomes a self-caricature. Most people only remembered him as the “Genius, millionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” so that’s all they decided to show of him, unfortunately. Character inconsistencies aside, the acting in Iron Man 2 is fantastic, thanks to Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke. Skip the middle third of this movie and see it for the performances, at least.

Fancy!

Your annoyance with the deterioration of Tony Stark might be warranting a drink around now. For Single-Malt Movies this week, I actually used a single-malt Scotch: Tomatin 12-Year. It’s delicious. I don’t know a whole lot about Scotch, but it seems I unintentionally chose one of the best Scotches I could have used in this drink. After trying it neat, I realized it has a few subtle fruity flavors (apple and pear) that ended up mellowing out the sometimes sharp taste of Scotch and complementing the orange juice and grenadine rather well. Definitely a good mid-range single-malt Scotch, if you’re ever looking for one. There’s an unclassy way to buy alcohol in a box (Franzia), and then there’s this.

Fancier!

Now, onto the Drambuie. I love Drambuie. It’s also a Scotch, but it’s so much more savory than that. It’s infused with honey, herbs, and spices. The taste is very smooth, herbaceous, and floral. In fact, it’s perfect for drinking chilled. It’s also great for use in a Hot Toddy or as a mix-in for various floral and herbal teas. Drambuie runs rather pricey though, which makes it ideal for sipping slowly over the course or a casual evening. Doing homework, watching Iron Man, whatever. The recipe I found for the “Iron Man” describes it as a Tequila Sunrise, but with a Rusty Nail in place of the Tequila. Reminder: a Tequila Sunrise is tequila, orange juice, and grenadine; a Rusty Nail is Drambuie and Scotch. I think that suits Iron Man pretty well.

Tony Stark’s appearance after the Incredible Hulk credits was more just for fun. Not much more to say about that. The Avengers just amplifies the caricatured Tony Stark personality and ends with a self-sacrifice inconsistent with his character. It’s random and almost unwarranted, and could have easily been avoided. I’m sure you want to see the Iron Man 3 trailer now though.

Wasn’t that amazing? It almost seems TDKR-esque. The voice-over from Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin seems to have an eerily similar gravelly sound. The plane-ripping-apart imagery also echoed bits of TDKR. Do I care? No, not really. The Dark Knight Rises did really well; it makes sense that someone would want to allude to that film. I am excited to see pain from Tony Stark once again though. His pain in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers seemed more foolish than anything. With Pepper thrown in some sort of danger, it seems like Stark’s pain will be inspired by something much more threatening. That’s the type of fear I want to see when Tony Stark battles his demons.

MarvelHe’s probably not drinking what I’m drinking.

Speaking of demons though, seriously, do try this drink. The strength of the orange juice and grenadine gives you the taste of the Scotch without the alcoholic bite. The drink is almost too fruity; it tastes like a Jolly Rancher. I’d recommend using slightly less grenadine than the recipe suggests. Make sure all your ingredients (Scotch can be an exception) are chilled beforehand. Cheers!